Forty years of Democratic dominance in the U.S. Congress came to a stunning end on November 8, when the Republican Party rode a tidal wave of anti-incumbent sentiment to victory in the midterm elections. The Republicans took control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1954 as voters delivered a strong rejection of Pres. Bill Clinton and his policies. The Republicans picked up a net gain of 53 seats in the House of Representatives and 7 in the Senate. The last time such carnage had been seen in Congress was in 1958, when Republicans lost 48 House and 13 Senate seats. Moreover, the Republicans won a majority of congressional seats from the South for the first time since the Civil War.

Not a single Republican incumbent was defeated, while 37 Democratic incumbents were denied reelection. The most prominent casualty was Rep. Thomas Foley of Washington, the first speaker of the House to lose since 1862. The election results underscored not only a shift in party control but an ideological and generational transformation as well. The Republican triumph was seen by many analysts as having been fueled by the “angry white male” vote, so-called because conservative white men, protesting higher taxes, affirmative action, and gun control and advocating tougher measures on crime, had voted in large numbers for the GOP. More than half of the new House would consist of members with four years of service or less.

The winds of change were most in evidence in the House, which had been continuously controlled by the Democrats since 1954 and for all but four years since the first term of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. The new House would be composed of 230 Republicans, 204 Democrats, and 1 independent. In addition to Foley, other prominent Democrats who lost included 18-term veteran Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois, the former chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee who was under federal indictment, and, after a 42-year run, Jack Brooks of Texas, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The Senate reverted to Republican control for only the second time in 40 years. With the defection of Democratic Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama one day after the election, the Republican majority stood at 53 to 47. Republicans won nine seats vacated by retiring senators and defeated Democratic incumbents in Tennessee, where 18-year veteran Jim Sasser lost to Bill Frist, a heart surgeon who had never held elective office, and in Pennsylvania, where Rep. Rick Santorum defeated Harris Wofford. A few prominent Democratic incumbents survived. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Dianne Feinstein of California turned back well-financed challengers. In Virginia, Sen. Charles Robb defeated Oliver North, a former Reagan White House aide best known for his role in the 1986 Iran-contra scandal. Melanie Anne Cooper